Review: powdered milk

Powdered milk is a new thing to me.  Why would anyone buy powdered milk when they can get the real thing?

Backpacking.

Milk isn't really a crucial thing to have while backpacking, but it's an excellent source of vitamin D, a decent source of vitamin A, and a famous source of calcium.  Those are all good things to have in your diet if you're going to be hiking for a really long time, and if you don't want to cook breakfast on the trail, it goes well with granola.  I bought some recently, but I screwed up.  Without even noticing it in the store, I got the nonfat version.

Backpackers need the fat.  (see previous post)

The box I bought has five packets inside; each packet can be mixed with "about 3 3/4 cups of cold water" to make a quart of milk.  I don't want to make a quart at a time; I need to be able to make about a cup at a time.  I threw some math at it, and learned that for trail purposes, about 1.5 T of powder in a cup of water should be the right mix.

I poured about half of the result on 1/2 C of bulk granola from the grocery (recommended serving size) and drank the rest.  I wanted to see how that would get me through the morning, even though my typical morning in the apartment requires nowhere near the energy level of a morning hiking mountains with a thirty to forty pound pack.

I haven't bought any variety except whole milk since... well, it's been a very long time, anyway.  I don't know if it's because I'm accustomed to that flavor, or because I botched the proportions in the mix, but the milk I got from the mix was a little thin and low on flavor.  I'd like to try again with a "whole" powdered milk, if I can find it, but at least now I know the stuff works.  Not great, but it works.  For the purposes of backpacking or summer camping without a cooler, this will do, but I'm not switching to the box stuff on a regular basis.